Single note selecting storage circuit

ABSTRACT

A first latching selector receives twelve tone signals of an octave and delivers a first tone signal having a note name decided by a selectively actuated key switch. The tone signal is divided in a half frequency divider to provide a second tone signal which is an octave lower than the first. A second latching selector receives the first and the second tone signal and delivers either of them having an octave name decided by the selectively actuated key switch. Thus a single note is selectively produced from among a note range more than an octave, using a lesser number of selector stages than in conventional devices.

O Umted States Patent 11 1 1111 I 3,806,623 Yamada Apr. 23, 1974 [541 SINGLE NOTE SELECTING STORAGE 3,006,228 10/1961 White s4 1.19 x 1 CIRCUIT 3,3l7,649 5/l967 Heame 84/l.l9 x 3,671,659 6/1972 Suzuki 84/l.l7 [75] Inventor: Shigeru Yamada, lnasa-gun, Japan [73] Assignee: Nippon Gakki Seizo Kabushiki 'y Examiner-Richal'd Wilkinson Kaisha, Hamamatsu-skL Assistant Examiner-U. Weldon Shizuoka-ken, Jap n Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Holman & Stern 22 Filed: Ma 23 1973 l A l N 3 y 57 ABSTRACT PP I 63,105 A first latching selector receives twelve tone signals of an octave and delivers a first tone signal having a note [30] Foreign Application Priority Data name decided by a selectively actuated key switch. May 24, 1972 Japan 47-51456 The tone Signal is divided in a half frequency divider to provide a second tone signal which is an octave [521 (1.8. CI. 84/1.01, 84/l.17 lower than the r A second l ching selector re- [51] Int. Cl. Gl0h 1/00 ceives the first and the eco tone signal and delivers 58 Field of Search 84/1.01, 1.10, 1.04, 1.11, either of them having an Octave name decided y the 234/117, 1,19 selectively actuated key switch. Thus a single note is selectively produced from among a note range more [56] R fe Cit d than an octave, using a lesser number of selector UNITED STATES PATENTS stages than in conventional devices.

3,598,892 8/1971 Yamashita 84/l.01 5 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures c4 c3 B4 3| 32 AMPLIFIER 3 3 3 4 NOTE NAME FREQUENCY FREQUENCY SELECTOR DIVIDER DIVIDER r NOTE NAME SELECTING SWITCHES OCTAV E SW2 TONE KEYER -Sw OCTAVE TONE 36 SELECTOR KEYER CONTROLLING SWITCHES PEDAL KEYBOARD 3T PATENTEMR 2 3 1 111 +Q- MQ5Q.-m 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 MQ-Q 1 1 1 1 11% 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 11% .L p q a 55X 6 55% 11 1 M53 w 5o 1mm wm a. -n %w+ 1055mm M242 5oz E ii: vm w 5.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to electronic musical instruments and more particularly to a single note selecting storage circuit provided therein.

In general, conventional electronic musical instruments are composed as is shown in FIG. 1. In such electronic musical instruments, tone signals produced by tone generators 11 are selected by an upper manual keyboard and the associated keyers 12A, a lower manual keyboard and the associated keyers 12B and a pedal keyboard 12C and the associated circuit. The tone signals. thus selected are tone-colored by tonecoloring circuits 13A, 13B and 13C, respectively, where a fundamental and harmonics components are appropriately combined. The tone signals thus tonecolored are controlled in volume by an expression controlling device 14.

In this connection, in the case where the pedal keyboard 12C controlling the production of bass notes is operated, the tone signals from the tone generator 11 are, in general, applied through a single note selecting storage circuit 17 and a tone keyer 18 to the tone coloring circuit 13C so that unclear tones are not produced by a performers erroneous pedal operation, that is, the careless depression of a plurality of pedals, because a melody on bass notes is, in general, composed by single notes.

The conventional single note selecting storage circuit 17 as described above is formed by a plurality of transis tor type flip-flops, as is shown in FIG. 2. The operation of the circuit 17 will be briefly described with respect to the case, where input signals are applied to transistors 20b.-

Upon connection ofa power source, all of the transistors 20b are set ON, or conductive Thereafter, whenever a key switch 3 is closed, the transistor 20b connected to the mentioned key switch 3 is set OFF, or nonconductive while all other transistors 20b including the one which has been nonconductive until then are set ON, and this condition is maintained even after the opening of the now closed key switch.

In addition, since the key switches 3 are connected in a preference circuit fashion as is shown in FIG. 2, even if two key switches or more are closed at the same time, only one input signal is selected by the single note selecting storage circuit. Thus, if input signals are kept applied to input terminals 4, a desired output signal can be obtained by the operation of the flip-flop actuated by the depressed key switch.

reliability of the single tone selecting storage circuit and consequently in cost increase thereof.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is a primary object of this invention to provide a single note selecting storage circuit in which the number of flip-flops is greatly reduced.

A secondary object of the invention is to provide a single note selecting storage circuit which is higher in productivity and reliability and low in cost.

The manner in which the foregoing objects and other objects have been achieved by the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description and the appended claims when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like The detailed operation of the single note selecting storage circuit is described in the US. Pat. No. 3,488,515 to Hiyoshi.

In such a conventional single note selecting storage circuit, the necessary number of flip-flops is the same as that of keys on a keyboard. In other words, 12 flipflops (that is, 24 transistors) are required for l2 notes C,C#,D,D#,E,F,F#,G,G#,A,A#,andl3 in one octave. Thus, a pedal keyboard with n pedals must be provided with a single note selecting storage circuit having n stages of flip-flops. Therefore, especially where the number of the pedal keys is large, the number of the necessary flip-flops is also large, which results in deterioration of the production efficiency and parts are designated by like reference numerals or characters.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the construction of a conventional electronic musical instrument;

FIG. 2 is a schematic circuit diagram illustrating a conventional single note selecting storage circuit;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a single note selecting storage circuit according to the invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram, partly as a block diagram, illustrating the detailed connection of one example of the essential part of the single note selecting storage circuit together with a tone keyer shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram, partly as a block diagram, illustrating a modification of the portion shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram, partly as a block diagram, illustrating a further modification of the portion shown in FIG. 4; and

FIG. 7 is an actual circuit diagram of an example of the tone keyer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION A block diagram illustrating one example of the single note selecting storage circuit according to this invention is shown in FIG. 3 together with a tone keyer. The single note selecting storage circuit of this embodiment comprises a first latching selector constituting a note name selector 31 and receiving 12 tone signals C through B an amplifier 32 connected to the circuit 31, two /2 frequency dividers 33 and 34, and a second latching selector constituting an octave selector 35 and receiving the output tone signals respectively from the circuits 32, 33 and 34.

The single note selecting storage circuit is further provided with three-stage gang-operated key switches, namely, a first stage being a note name selecting switches SW1, a second stage an octave selecting switches SW2 and a third stage a tone keyer controlling switches SW3, all of which are actuated by the operation of a pedal keyboard 37, in order to select a single note. These switches SW1, SW2 and SW3 are provided for each of the pedal so the pedal keyboard 37.

The number of the pedals is 13 or 25 or 32, usually. Therefore, the invention will be described with reference to the case where the number of pedals is 25, that is, the case where a pedal keyboard has a compass of two octaves and one: C C 2 B C B As is shown in FIG. 3, l2 tone signals, representing notes of, for instance, from C to B are supplied to the note name selector 31 of a latching selector type whose construction may be the same as the circuit shown in FIG. 2. The output of this circuit 31 is fed to the octave selector 35 also of a latching selector type, the first through the amplifier 32, the second through the frequency divider 33, and third through the two frequency dividers 33 and 34. In other words, the signal of the highest note C (261.6l-Iz) of the above-mentioned pedal compass is directly applied to the circuit 35, the signals for the notes C (130.8Hz) to B (246.9Hz) are applied to the circuit 35 through the frequency divider 33, and the signals for the notes C (65.4 Hz) to B (123.5 Hz) are applied to the circuit 35 through the frequency dividers 33 and 34.

Upon depression of a pedal for, for instance, note D the note name selecting switch SW1 for D-note is actuated, thereby permitting the note name selector 31 to pass the tone signal of D out of the twelve tone signals to the amplifier 32. This output note signal is introduced to the circuit 35 through the amplifier 32, through the frequency divider 33, and through two frequency dividers 33 and 34. In other words, the circuit 35 receives three note signals representing notes D D and D On the other hand, the octave selecting switch SW2 is also actuated by the above-described depression of the pedal provided for note D thereby controlling the operation of the octave selector 35. That is, the actuation of the switch SW2 allows the circuit 35 to select one (note D in this case) of the octavely related three signals D D and D Thus, the output signal of the frequency divider 33, that is, the signal representing note D is selected by the circuit 35 as an intended single note signal. The signal thus selected is introduced to the tone keyer 36 and is delivered to a following tone coloring circuit thereby.

It should be noted that the operations described above are simultaneously carried out by the gang switches SW1, SW2 and SW3 actuated by the depression of the pedal.

With reference to FIG. 4, the arrangement of the gang switches SW1, SW2 and SW3 provided for the pedal keyboard 37 will be described.

As is apparent from FIG. 4, there are provided a number of switches SW1, SW2 and SW3. Of the switches SW1, the switches provided for the notes, such as C C and C having the same note name (only the octave numbers are different) are connected in parallel to one another, so that those switches triggers the same stage in the note name selector. Of the switches SW2, the switches provided for the same octave are connected in parallel to one another, that is, the switches SW2 are classified into three groups: C B C B and C All of the switches SW3 are connected in parallel to one another to control the single tone keyer 36.

As is shown in FIG. 5, 24 (two times 12) diodes may be employed instead of 25 tone keyer controlling switches SW3 so as to reduce the number of mechanical contacts and thereby to increase the reliability of switch operation. In this connection, two diodes are required for one switch SW1 so as to eliminate the interaction otherwise caused between the note name selector 31 and the tone keyer 36.

A further modified embodiment of the invention is shown in FIG. 6. The utilization of more diodes has realized the dispensation with the switches SW2 and SW3. The operation is self-explanatory from the drawing.

The tone keyer 36 utilized in the above-mentioned three embodiments can be constructed in a conventional way, one example being shown in FIG. 7.

As is clear from the above description, the single note selecting storage circuit of the invention comprises two latching selectors, that is, a note name selector and an octave selector. These two selectors are controlled by the operation of the key switches provided in association with the pedal keyboard. The single note selecting storage circuit thus constructed is simpler with the reduction of the number of flip-flops.

In other words, while 25 flip-flops have been required for 25 notes in a conventional construction, the number of flip-flops required according to the invention for 25 notes is only 17: that is, 12 flip-flops for the note name selector circuit 31, one flip-flop for each of the frequency dividers 33, 34, and three flip-flops for the octave selector circuit 35.

Accordingly, electronic musical instruments which are simpler in manufacture and more reliable in operation can be obtained.

I claim: 7

l. A single note selecting storage circuit for an electronic musical instrument having tone generators which deliver output tonesignals of an octave, said single note selecting storage circuit comprising:

a. a plurality of switch means operably designatable of a desired octaval note name and number in a predetermined series of octaves;

b. note name latching selector means coupled to said switch means for receiving an octave of predetermined tone signals from said generator and delivering a first tone signal therefrom representative of a particular note name of said octave in response to an operated one of said switch means, said particular note name being the same as the note name designated by said operated one of said switch means;

c. at least one one-half frequency divider means con nected to said note name selector means for frequency-dividing the first tone signal delivered therefrom into a second tone signal which is an octave lower than said first tone signal; and

d. octave latching selector means operatively coupled to said switch means forreceiving said first and second tone signals from said note name latching selector means said frequency divider means respectively and delivering an output signal of one of said first and second tone signals having an octaval number, corresponding to the octaval number operably designated in said switch means upon operation of said operated one of said switch means.

2. A single-note selecting storage circuit as claimed in claim 1 in which said plurality of switch means comprises note name selecting switches, octave selecting switches and tone-keyer controlling switches which operate simultaneously.

3. A single-note selecting storage circuit as claimed in claim 2 in which the numbers of said note name selecting switches, said octave selecting switches, and

connected in parallel to one another to control said tone-keyer.

5. A single note selecting storage circuit as claimed in claim 1 which further comprises tone keyer means operatively coupled to said switch means for receiving said output signal from said octave selector means and delivering the signal therefrom upon operation of said operated one of said switch means. 

1. A single note selecting storage circuit for an electronic musical instrument having tone generators which deliver output tone signals of an octave, said single note selecting storage circuit comprising: a. a plurality of switch means operably designatable of a desired octaval note name and number in a predetermined series of octaves; b. note name latching selector means coupled to said switch means for receiving an octave of predetermined tone signals from said generator and delivering a first tone signal therefrom representative of a particular note name of said octave in response to an operated one of said switch means, said particular note name being the same as the note name designated by said operated one of said switch means; c. at least one one-half frequency divider means connected to said note name selector means for frequency-dividing the first tone signal delivered therefrom into a second tone signal which is an octave lower than said first tone signal; and d. octave latching selector means operatively coupled to said switch means for receiving said first and second tone signals from said note name latching selector means said frequency divider means respectively and delivering an output signal of one of said first and second tone signals having an octaval number, corresponding to the octaval number operably designated in said switch means upon operation of said operated one of said switch means.
 2. A single-note selecting storage circuit as claimed in claim 1 in which said plurality of switch means comprises note name selecting switches, octave selecting switches and tone-keyer controlling switches which operate simultaneously.
 3. A single-note selecting storage circuit as claimed in claim 2 in which the numbers of said note name selecting switches, said octave selecting switches, and said tone-keyer controlling switches are respectively the same as those of the desired range of notes.
 4. A single-note selecting storage circuit as claimed in claim 2 in which said note name selecting switches having the same note name are connected in parallel to one another, said octave selecting switches are classified into groups according to octaves, in each group the octave selecting switches being connected in parallel to one another, said tone-keyer controlling switches being connected in parallel to one another to control said tone-keyer.
 5. A single note selecting storage circuit as claimed in claim 1 which further comprises tone keyer means operatively coupled to said switch means for receiving said output signal from said octave selector means and delivering the signal therefrom upon operation of said operated one of said switch means. 